Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

1232 Words5 Pages
Nothing and I mean nothing, bothers me more than men that do not know what it means to be loyal and nationalistic to their country. We are in a time where being nationalistic is essential. We are fighting a war because it is necessary! We are fighting a war to show how great Germany is and why it will stand as THE greatest nation! The countries that go against the Fatherland will rue the day they didn’t believe in the German power. Mr. Remarque you should consider yourself a disgrace, you Unruhestifter (troublemaker). Mark my words your book will be burned every single page of it. Every store that dares to sell your book will be burned down and any person caught reading your fairy tale will face the consequences of reading that book because,…show more content…
By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness. . . It is this other, this second sight in us, that has thrown us to the ground and saved us, without our knowing how. . .. We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers—we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals. Does Paul sound like a young man who isn’t ready to fight and protect his country? No, to me this sounds like a man who will stop at nothing so that his country can win this war. These young men become beast in their efforts to survive. That’s exactly what we need in our great nation. BEAST! The biggest criticism that I have of your novel sir is that you lack the experience and exposure to really understand what war is and what it means. You have a biased view because you yourself could not complete the task of defending your country. You use these young men and other soldiers that have faced the war to portray it as something immoral when in reality that is not what it means to each man. We were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave life, and the war also an ideal and almost romantic character. We were trained in the army for ten weeks and in this time more profoundly influenced than by ten years at school” (Remarque,
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